John Brown's Notes and Essays

By Jay Caspian Kang , Opinion Writer, The New York Times ,  July 25, 2022 image (not from article) from Excerpt:  It’s one that became quite clear to me when I was a teacher: Kids need to learn how to practice things. Homework, in many cases, is the only ritualized thing they have to do every day. Even if we could perfectly equalize opportunity in school and empower all students not to be encumbered by the weight of their socioeconomic status or ethnicity, I’m not sure what good it would do if the kids didn’t know how to do something relentlessly, over and over again, until they perfected it. Most teachers know that type of progress is very difficult to achieve inside the classroom, regardless of a student’s background ... . Holistic ideas of education, in which learning is emphasized and students can explore concepts and ideas, are largely for the types of kids who don’t need to worry about class mobility.  A defense of rote practice through homework might seem revanchis...

image (not from article) from , with caption: William Burns, right, at the Kremlin in 2005 with Russian President Vladimir Putin, centre, whom he describes as 'an apostle of payback' © Reuters JULY 26TH, 2022 BY  WALTER PINCUS  |  0 COMMENTS   The Cipher Brief OPINION   — No one has described today’s Russian President Vladimir Putin better than CIA Director William J. Burns did last Wednesday at a security forum in Colorado.   No American official other than Burns, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Russia from 2005-to-2008, Undersecretary of State 2008-2011, and Deputy Secretary of State 2011-2014, has had an equal long-term, personal experience with Putin. Most recently, as CIA Director, Burns met with Putin in the Kremlin on November 9, 2021 as President Biden’s personal envoy – making him the last American to speak to Putin before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. “I have watched and dealt with Vladimir Putin for more than two decades now,” Burns tol...

JUNE 21ST, 2022 BY  TIM WILLASEY-WILSEY  |  0 COMMENTS The Cipher Brief   [original article contains links] image from article EXPERT PERSPECTIVE —  Russia is gradually beginning to prevail in Ukraine and the West is just starting to lose focus. Neither France and Germany nor the US and UK have coherent ideas for how this war will end. And there is no credible deal with Putin that anyone can trust. So, some new thinking is required. The Black Sea and Belarus provide two options.   (Ed Note:  A UK-version of this piece by Cipher Brief Expert  Tim Willasey-Wilsey  was first published by  The Scotsman ) To paraphrase the BBC journalist   Quentin Sommerville ; if you still think Ukraine is winning the war ‘then you have not been paying attention’.  Over recent weeks, the brilliant Ukrainian success in defeating the Russians to the north of Kyiv has been replaced by gradual and brutal Russian progress in the Donbas. This is a rever...

BY DOUGLAS LONDON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR, The hill - 07/25/22 9:00 AM ET Bakanov image (not from article) from The timing and circumstances that led to President  Volodymyr Zelensky’s  decision to relieve Ivan Bakanov, chief of Ukraine’s domestic security service, the SBU, was more likely driven by internal political considerations than counterintelligence revelations. That’s not to say that challenges concerning Ukraine’s counterintelligence environment are not cause for concern. Ukraine  reports  at least 1,234 individuals were being investigated for high treason and collaboration with Russia, a statistic that includes government officials.   Given America’s intelligence  support  to Ukraine, where does this internal reshuffling leave the U.S. intelligence community in the face of vulnerabilities that Zelensky himself acknowledges?   The SBU has been a particular problem for Zelensky and Western governments whose civilian security services norma...

Roosevelts' image from From: Tevi Troy , "Biden’s Dithering Irks White House Staff [:] Aides are complaining that he lets decisions on big issues linger for a year or longer—something for which he once criticized Obama," The Wall Street Journal , July 25, 2022 2:05 pm ET

  See also Wikipedia , for summary of the geographic issues involved ... image  from image from from  

Kremlin calls on Ukraine to resume grain shipments, despite attack on port of Odessa over the weekend  image (not from article) from By Vivian Salam and Evan Gershkovich , The Wall Street Journal , Updated July 25, 2022 12:46 pm ET  [original article contains photographs] Excerpt: Russia on Saturday launched a missile attack on Ukraine’s critical grain-exporting port of Odessa   hours after signing an international agreement   to ease its blockade of the Black Sea coastline and allow for the safe transport of grain and other foodstuffs necessary to alleviate a looming global food crisis.   The strike appeared to violate the terms of the United Nations-brokered agreement signed by Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul on Friday, which stipulated that both countries would refrain from attacking port facilities or civilian ships used for grain transport, according to a copy of the agreement viewed by The Wall Street Journal.   The Kremlin said the strike t...